THE  CHOICE  OF  A  LIFE-WORK 

THE  OPPORTUNITIES  OF  THE  MINISTRY 


EARL  MORSE  WILBUR 


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PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


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BV   664    .W54    1906 

Wilbur,  Earl  Morse,  1866- 

1956. 
The  choice  of  a  life-worK 


THE  CHOICE  OF  A  LIFE-WORK 


THE  OPPORTUNITIES  OF  THE  MINISTRY 


EARL  MORSE  WILBUR 


SAN      FRANCISCO 
THE    MURDOCK    PRESS 
1906 


"The  greatest  problem  is  that  of  making  one's  power  and 
influence  felt  as  much  as  possible  for  good  in  the  great  world's 
movements. ' ' — Professor  E.  E.  Thurston,  Cornell  University. 

'  *  The  communication  of  moral  and  religious  truth  is  the  most 
important  office  committed  to  men. ' ' — Clianning. 

' '  Never  was  there  a  greater  call  in  all  parts  of  this  country 
for  thoroughly  equipped  clergymen  than  now,  and  never  was 
the  position  given  to  such  clergymen  more  honorable  and  in 
fluential. '' — Ex-President  White,  Cornell  University. 

' '  Despite  all  the  modifications  which  this  office  has  under 
gone,  it  is  still  a  most  influential  one,  and  is  certain  to  con- 
tinue so.  .  .  .  A.  man  who  does  well  in  it  will  never  lack  occu- 
j)ation  and  influence.  .  .  .  Modern  society  is  better  worth 
preaching  to  than  any  earlier  society.  .  .  .  Never  had  the 
true  priest  so  high  a  station  or  so  great  an  influence  «s  he  has 
to-day." — President  Eliot,  Harvard  University. 


Cije  Choice  of  a  %ift'WSSiovk 


The  choice  of  a  life-work  deserves  to  .be  consid-   The  importance 

,  T       .    .  ,  ,  .        .    ,         of  the  choice 

ered,  after  the  decision  as  to  the  moral  principles  of  a  life-work. 
by  which  life  itself  is  to  be  governed,  as  the  most 
important  and  far-reaching  question  that  a  young 
man  is  called  upon  to  decide.  With  but  one  life  to 
live  upon  earth,  and  with  no  chance  to  make  fresh 
starts  except  at  great  sacrifice,  a  mistake  in  this 
choice,  involving  as  it  does  all  one's  future  career, 
is  no  less  than  tragic.  By  force  of  energy  and  per- 
sistence, it  is  true,  one  that  has  missed  his  true 
vocation  may  still  make  his  life  a  fair  success;  but 
when  one  is  to  invest  his  whole  life,  talents,  and 
opportunities,  he  should  take  no  risks,  but  should 
insure  from  this  supreme  investment  the  surest  and 
highest  returns  obtainable.  In  other  words,  one 
should  aim  to  make  such  a  choice  as  to  secure  his 
living  his  life  to  the  most  effective  purpose  possible. 
If  this  is  true  to  some  degree  for  all  young  men 
standing  at  the  threshold,  it  is  especially  so  for 
those  whose  natural  talents  and  advantages  of  edu- 
cation make  their  investment  of  more  than  the 
average  value ;  for  with  these  mistake  or  failure  means 
the  greater  loss. 

In   making  this  important   choice   one   should,   of  Preliminary 
course,   be    somewhat   guided   by   the   judgment   of 


The  several 
ends  at  which 
one  may  aim  in 
life. 


Opportunities 
afforded  by  the 
different  ends. 


wise  friends,  who  in  certain  respects  may  be  able  to 
judge  of  one's  capabilities  and  of  the  opportunities 
of  life  better  than  he  can  judge  of  them  himself;  yet 
in  the  end  the  decision  must  be  one's  own.  It  may 
be  rendered  easier  than  at  first  sight  it  might  ap- 
pear, if  certain  principles  controlling  the  choice  be 
first  clearly  settled. 

AVhat,  for  example,  do  you  mean  to  make  your 
supreme  end  and  aim  in  your  life-work,  to  which  all 
other  ends,  within  the  limits  of  honor,  are  to  be 
made  to  contribute?  Is  it  the  accumulation  of 
wealth?  Then  the  range  of  choice  is  narrowed  at 
once  to  a  few  especially  lucrative  fields  of  activity. 
Or  is  it  power  over  men,  so  that  you  may  make  them 
bend  to  your  will  or  execute  your  purposes,  and 
perhaps  reward  you  with  position  or  honor?  Then 
it  is  comparatively  easy  to  say  through  what  callings 
you  may  most  readily  reach  your  goal.  Or  do  you 
incline  to  consult  your  native  tastes,  following  along 
lines  of  least  resistance  to  a  career  that  shall  be  con- 
genial, and  possibly  not  too  strenuous?  Again  the 
choice  may  seem  almost  to  make  itself.  Or,  finally, 
is  it  your  high  ambition  to  spend  your  life  and 
talents  distinctly  for  the  good  of  others,  so  that  the 
direct  result  of  your  life-work  shall  be  a  world  left 
better  than  you  found  it,  and  your  fellow-men  hap- 
pier? In  this  case  also  certain  callings  will  naturally 
appeal  to  you  above  all  others. 

If  I  have  placed  last  that  end  which  seems  to  me 
to  be  the  most  worthy,  it  is  not  that  I  would  under- 


estimate  the  others.  All  may  be  not  only  honorably 
but  worthily  followed.  While  wealth  is  too  often 
ignobly  and  sordidly  pursued,  it  is  in  itself  a  per- 
fectly legitimate  object  of  human  endeavor;  and  it 
may  be  so  used  as  to  become  a  means  of  high  human 
service.  Indeed,  there  has  perhaps  never  been  a 
time  when  men  in  command  of  large  material  re- 
sources could  employ  them  to  better  purpose  than 
now,  in  the  way  of  enlightened  philanthropy,  to  the 
end  of  human  betterment,  nor  when  men  were  more 
needed  to  do  that  very  thing.  Nor  is  the  ambition 
of  being  able  to  control  the  actions  and  destinies  of 
men,  Avhether  through  political  or  other  organiza- 
tions, a  mean  ambition,  often  as  it  is  used  for  base 
and  wholly  selfish  ends.  To  direct  the  affairs  of 
men  or  of  a  nation  is  to  use  one  of  the  most  enviable 
of  opportunities  for  accomplishing  wide  good.  And 
the  world  has  reason  enough  to  be  grateful  to  those 
that  have  followed  the  lead  of  inborn  tastes  or 
genius  and  given  their  powers  of  fancy  or  of  inven 
tion  free  play  in  the  work  of  art  or  of  applied 
science;  while  the  opportunities  of  serving  it  in 
this  way  seem  only  to  multiply  with  advancing 
civilization. 

The  final  criterion  by  which  these  and  other  ob- 
jects of  life  are  to  be  brought  into  comparison  and  wSTo  jJIdge 
judged  is  that  of  their  solid  satisfactions  and  their  possibVen^ds"!^ 
permanent  results,  in  the  mind  of  the  actor  and  in 
the  judgment  of  the  world.     Take,  then,  the  man 
whose  whole  object  in  life  has  been  to  gain  as  much 


The   final 
criterion  by 


wealth  as  he  could,  whether  for  mere  wealth's  sake 
or  for  what  he  could  procure  with  it;  the  man  that 
has  spent  his  whole  life  striving  to  gain  as  much 
power  and  as  high  station  as  possible ;  and  the  man 
that  has  consulted  his  personal  tastes  and  inclina- 
tions in  the  aim  to  live  as  easily  and  agreeably  as  he 
could.  Isolate  these  from  any  consideration  of  hu- 
man service  incidentally  rendered;  compare  them 
with  the  man  that  has  unselfishly  and  wisely  devoted 
himself  to  increasing  the  public  or  private  w^elfare 
as  the  main  purpose  of  his  life,  to  which  its  gains 
and  pleasures  have  been  but  incidental;  and  then 
ask  Avhich  of  them  all  will  during  active  life  have 
enjoyed  the  purest  satisfactions,  least  tinged  by  bit- 
terness or  regret,  which  will  look  back  over  his  life 
with  the  deepest  happiness,  which  will  have  won  the 
most  and  warmest  friends,  which  will  be  most  deeply 
missed  and  mourned  at  his  departure,  and  will  b( 
longest  held  in  grateful  memory  by  generations  after 
him.  No  one  can  be  in  doubt  as  to  the  answer^ 
which  is  humanity's  verdict  upon  the  comparative 
worthfulness  of  the  ends  of  life.  Other  rewards  will 
often  enough  seem  great  and  tempting  for  the 
present;  but  the  final  judgment  will  be  that  the 
purest,  strongest,  and  most  enduring  rewards  are 
those  that  follow  the  life  of  service.  It  is  the  only 
life  that  the  world  long  or  deeply  honors;  and  it 
deserves  to  be  noted  that  each  of  the  objects  of  effort 
in  life  considered  above  is  really  valued,  when  judged 
from  the  highest  point  of  view,  only  in  proportion  as. 
it  can  be  translated  into  terms  of  service. 


If  all  that  has  been  said  be  admitted,  and  if  it  be  rhe  life 
agreed  that  the  Black  Prince's  motto,   "Icli   dien/'  the  most 

common 

is  the  finest  that  a  young  man  can  choose  to  express  avenues  to  it. 
his  purpose  in  life,  even  vet  it  does  not  follow  that 
one's  choice  of  a  life-work  is  restricted  to  but  one 
or  only  a  few  callings.  The  avenues  of  service  are 
many  enough;  and  anything  that  the  great  world 
really  needs  to  have  done,  from  the  digging  of  its 
ditches  to  the  ruling  of  its  nations,  offers  an  honor- 
able opportunity  of  helping  it  in  some  measure  to  a 
more  abundant  and  happy  life.  Whether  you  shall 
choose  this  or  that  is  to  no  small  degree  a  question 
of  personal  fitness,  of  which  I  shall  speak  later. 
There  are,  however,  a  few  callings  that  men  are 
accustomed  to  regard  as  particularly  rich  in  oppor- 
tunity for  those  that  would  serve  their  generation 
in  the  highest  way.  I  refer  to  Journalism,  Litera- 
ture, Medicine,  Teaching,  Social  Service,  and  the 
Ministry ;  all,  when  rightly  followed,  most  noble  call- 
ings, with  vast  opportunities  for  raising  the  level  of 
humanity  and  increasing  its  virtue  and  its  happiness. 
It  is  remembered  what  power  the  journalist  through 
his  editorials  and  the  author  through  his  books 
have  to  influence  or  direct  the  thinking  of  those 
that  read;  that  the  physician  comes  at  times  closer 
than  almost  any  other  to  the  inmost  lives  of  those 
whom  he  treats ;  that  the  teacher  has  it  in  his  power 
to  mold  the  plastic  minds  of  youth  and  to  give  their 
characters  direction  for  life ;  and  that  he  that  gives 
himself  to  Social  Service  aims  to  alleviate  or  cure  the 


Conditions 

of  the  modern 

Christian 

ministry. 


The    opportuni- 
ties of  service 
especially  open 
to  the  minister. 


worst  ills  of  society  by  dealing  with  them  at  first  hand. 
Happy  is  the  man  that  feels  called  to  enter  upon  the. 
privileges  of  any  of  these  lines  of  life-Avork.  I  wish 
here,  however,  to  call  especial  attention  to  the  su- 
preme attractions  and  opportunities  of  the  Christian 
Ministry. 

It  has  often  been  remarked  that  the  power  of  the 
minister  to-day  is  no  longer  what  it  once  was.  For- 
merly he  was  the  unchallenged  leader,  having  b}' 
his  very  office  almost  a  monopoly  of  public  influence 
in  the  community,  not  only  in  matters  of  religion 
and  morals,  but  also  in  education,  and  to  no  small 
degree  in  politics.  To-day  the  pulpit  shares  leader- 
ship in  all  these  matters  with  the  press,  the  school, 
the  library,  and  the  public-spirited  layman.  ''The 
authority  of  the  minister  is  now  derived,"  says  one 
of  the  leaders  of  American  thought,*  "from  the 
purity  and  strength  of  his  character,  from  the  vigor 
of  his  intelligence  and  the  depth  of  his  learning,  and 
from  the  power  of  his  speech.  Candor,  knowledge, 
wisdom  and  love  can  alone  give  him  authority." 
Under  these  conditions  it  is  safe  to  say  that  there 
has  never  been  a  time  when  a  weak,  incompetent,  and 
poorly-educated  minister  would  count  for  so  little 
in  a  given  community  as  now,  nor  when  a  strong, 
competent,  and  well-trained  one  could  exert  upon  it 
a  more  powerful  personal  influence. 

What  character  of  public  service  is  it,  then,  that 
the  modern  minister  can  render?    It  is  his  distinctive 
*President  Eliot,  Educational  Eeform. 
8 


privilege  to  be  a  public  teacher  of  religious  and 
moral  truth,  a  trusted  counselor  and  disinterested 
friend  in  whatever  concerns  men's  inmost  life,  their 
higher  strivings,  their  failures,  hopes,  fears,  and  per- 
plexities. It  is  for  him  more  distinctly  and  con- 
stantly than  for  any  one  else  in  the  community  to 
hold  up  before  men  and  inspire  in  them  the  highest 
ideals  of  life,  and  to  speak  to  them  from  week  to 
week  to  such  purpose  that  they  shall  go  away  with 
the  resolution  newly  formed  or  freshly  confirmed  to 
live  true,  clean,  just  lives  as  Christian  men  and  chil- 
dren of  God.  and  to  try  to  make  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven  a  reality  on  earth.  It  is  given  to  him  (if 
he  be  capable  of  it)  to  be  recognized  and  looked  up 
to  as  ex  officio  a  leader  in  movements  for  philan- 
thropy, reform,  and  social  betterment,  and  in  what- 
ever else  concerns  the  higher  life  of  the  community 
or  of  individuals  in  it.  His  work  is  thus  not  merely 
to  discourse  upon  theological  abstractions  to  those 
that  are  interested  in  them,  but  to  bring  religion  in 
its  broadest  sense  to  bear  upon  all  individual  and 
social  life,  aiding  the  progress  of  the  higher  life  of  men 
by  the  most  powerful  of  all  the  influences  known  to  the 
histor}^  of  civilization — the  motives  and  sanctions  of 
religion,  and  the  inspirations  of  religious  thought 
and  feeling.  His  calling  is  no  narrow  one,  then,  but 
is  as  broad  as  human  need  and  man's  endeavor. 

Compare  the  possibilities  of  this  calling  with  those  Opportunities 
of  the  vocations  above  mentioned.    Much  as  we  may  ?omparS*wfth^ 
recognize  the  power  and  influence  of  the  press  at  camngl  ^^'^^^ 


its  best,  yet  religion  and  morals  are  but  a  small  part 
of  the  field  with  which  it  has  to  do,  whereas  these 
are  the  matters  to  which  the  minister,  as  a  specialist, 
can  devote  practically  his  whole  attention.  The 
physician  sometimes  comes  into  closer  relations  with 
his  patients  than  the  Protestant  minister  ever  does; 
bnt  such  relations  are  sporadic,  confined  to  times  of 
illness,  and  may  not  recur  for  months  or  years,  while 
the  minister's  are  constant,  and  are  deepened  from 
year  to  year.  Moreover,  the  office  of  the  physician 
is  primarily  one  for  the  body  alone ;  the  moral  in- 
fluence that  he  may  exercise  is  only  occasional  and 
incidental.  A  true  teacher  certainly  may  have  great 
power  over  the  forming  characters  of  his  pupils ; 
yet  he  exercises  it  for  but  a  brief  period  upon  each 
one  in  the  moving  procession  that  passes  before  his 
desk ;  and  his  main  w^ork,  after  all,  is  also  not  to 
develop  their  moral  and  spiritual  natures,  but  to 
store  and  train  their  minds.  Those  that  engage  in 
Social  Service  often  seem  to  be  doing  directly  what 
others  accomplish,  if  at  all,  only  by  indirection,  and  to 
be  working  where  the  greatest  need  is.  Yet  it  is  fair 
to  ask  whether  social  failure  and  social  wrong  are 
to  be  permanently  cured  in  the  slums;  whether  the 
remed}^  (except  for  individual  cases)  musf  not  be 
applied  nearer  the  source  of  the  evil,  and  whether 
the  fundamental  work  is  not  to  be  done  through 
the  broad  teaching  of  morals  and  religion,  and  by 
inspiring  men  with  those  ideals  of  which  Social  Ser- 
vice is  a  conspicuous  practical  application. 

10 


character. 


The  supreme  attraction  of  the  ministry  as  a  voca-  a  work 
tion,  then,  lies  in  the  fact  that  its  work  is  primarily  of  human 
in  the  realm  of  human  character  as  influenced  by 
moral  teachings  enforced  by  religious  motives  and 
inspirations;  that  these  interests  are  not  merely  in- 
cidental to  the  ministry,  but  essential  to  it,  and  are 
interwoven  closely  with  all  that  is  good  in  civiliza- 
tion; and  that  the  minister's  influence  upon  a  given 
company  of  men  is  not  casual  and  temporary,  but 
constant,  and  often  enduring  through  many  years. 
For  this  reason  it  can  be  asserted  without  reserve 
that  if  a  minister  possessing  such  qualifications  as 
have  been  mentioned  above  w^ill  go  into  any  com- 
munity and  work  single-heartedly  in  his  calling  for 
five,  ten,  or  twenty  years,  he  will  at  the  end  of  that 
time  have  done  more  to  impress  his  personality  upon 
that  community,  and  more  to  shape  its  higher  life 
several  times  over,  than  any  equal  man  in  any  other 
calling. 

By  way  of  minor  considerations,  it  may  be  added 
that,  while  the  ministry  offers  no  pecuniary  tempta- 
tions to  the  man  seeking  for  money,  it  assures  a 
comfortable  living  to  the  competent,  and  offers  a 
certain  presumption  of  social  position  and  public 
esteem ;  and  that  no  other  calling  gives  more  elastic 
freedom  in  the  performance  of  its  demands,  a  wider 
opportunity  for  culture  of  mind  and  heart,  more 
inspirations  and  encouragements,  or  more  sincere  ap- 
preciation and  love  from  the  worthiest  men  and 
women. 

11 


Minor 
considerations. 


The   great 

demand 

for  the  influence 

of  the  ministry 

to-day. 


The  ministry 
to  be  chosen 
only   by   those 
exceptionally  _ 
qualified  for  it. 


No  thoughtful  person  needs  to  have  it  urged  how 
deeply  the  conditions  of  our  time  and  country  stand 
in  need  of  such  service  as  I  have  indicated  above. 
When  it  is  being  pointed  out  from  all  quarters  how 
materialistic  our  age  has  grown,  how  everything 
tends  to  be  measured  by  the  standard  of  money, 
how  public  and  private  ideals  are  sacrificed  to  the 
prevailing  passion,  how  the  standards  of  the  business 
world  are  charged  with  being  generally  corrupt,  as 
in  conspicuous  instances  they  certainly  are,  and  how 
often  in  official  life  the  public  weal  is  betrayed  for 
private  ends,  it  must  be  clear  that  there  has  never 
been  a  time  in  our  history  when  the  call  was  louder 
for  men  to  give  their  lives  to  recalling  the  present 
generation  to  higher  ideals  and  truer  practices,  by 
emphasizing  those  eternal  and  universal  truths  that 
are  taught  by  religion. 

It  should  not  be  concluded  from  what  has  been 
said,  however,  that  every  well-meaning  young  man 
that  sincerely  desires  to  leave  the  world  better  off 
for  his  having  lived  in  it,  or  even  every  one  that  feels 
the  impulse  to  preach,  should  therefore  enter  the 
ministry.  Far  too  many  such  mistakes  have  been 
made.  The  world  is  full  of  posts  of  service  of  dif- 
ferent kinds  and  varying  requirements;  and  which 
of  them  all  one  shall  choose  is  a  question  to  be 
decided  upon  grounds  of  one's  character,  tempera- 
ment, talents,  and  preparation.  If,  as  I  have  said, 
there  has  never  been  a  time  when  a  fit  man  could 
accomplish  more  in  the  ministry,  there  has  perhaps 


12 


never  been  a  time  when  an  unfit  man  was  so  sure 
to  fail  in  it. 

Certain  qualities,  which  may  or  may  not  be  im-  Qualifications 
portant  in  various  other  callings,  are  well-nigh  in-  to  success 

-  „  .  ,  .     .  in  the  ministry. 

dispensable  to  a  successiul  career  m  the  mniistry. 
A  man  must  have  first  of  all  an  unblemished  moral 
character.  I  do  not  mean  that  he  should  be  a  moral 
prig;  but  his  principles  must  be  of  the  highest,  and 
they  must  in  all  circumstances  be  adhered  to  without 
qualification.  Again,  he  must  have  force  and  inde- 
pendence of  character  and  strong  steadiness  of  pur- 
pose. Often  enough  he  will  have  to  stand  ^Wth  the 
minority;  and  if  he  waver  in  his  course,  or  look 
to  others  for  guidance,  or  lack  the  power  of  lead- 
ership, his  ministry  will  have  little  influence  over 
men.  He  must  also  have  that  divine  gift  of  tact 
and  of  social  sympathy  which,  without  the  least 
trace  of  insincerity,  will  enable  him  to  deal  with 
men  according  to  their  individual  natures,  with  due 
allowance  for  their  peculiarities,  foibles,  or  weak- 
nesses, with  true  appreciation  of  their  excellencies 
however  obscured,  and  with  a  deep  insight  which 
can  find  in  every  man  something  divine,  and  there- 
fore something  of  interest.  The  minister  must  have 
a  real  passion  for  service,  a  large-hearted  love  foi 
humanity,  an  enthusiastic  interest  in  doing  good, 
and  such  a  desire  to  be  unselfishly  helpful,  as  shall 
inspire  all  his  labors  and  overcome  all  his  discourage- 
ments. Above  all,  he  who  would  become  a  minister 
must   possess   profound   religious    convictions.      He 

13 


need  not  as  yet  have  arranged  them  in  an  organized 
system,  nor  need  he  have  thought  all  the  great  prob- 
lems through  to  their  end — his  professional  studies 
will  help  him  to  do  this — but  he  must  deeply  believe 
that  this  is  God's  world,  that  man  has  infinite 
capabilities  as  God's  child,  and  the  human  soul  price- 
less worth  and  dignity,  and  that  man's  sorest  need 
is  to  be  brought  into  harmony  with  God's  will;  if 
he  lack  these  convictions,  the  tap-root  of  his  power 
as  a  minister  Avill  be  cut. 
Must  9ne  feel  Thcsc   are  the  indispensable   qualifications  which 

to^p?eS:h"f ^^  the  young  man  deciding  upon  a  life-work  must  find 
in  himself,  at  least  in  germ,  before  he  can  choose  the 
ministry  with  any  reasonable  hope  of  success  in  it: 
the  lack  of  any  single  one  of  them  will  handicap 
his  whole  career.  Feeling  some  assurance  that  he 
has  these  qualities  in  fair  measure,  however,  may  he 
still  choose  this  calling  unless  there  is  borne  in  upon 
him  that  mysterious  feeling  that  used  to  be  known 
as  "a  call  to  preach"?  It  is  to  be  answered  that  the 
ministr}^  should  be  chosen  with  the  same  enlightened 
sense  and  sober  deliberation  that  would  be  used  in 
the  case  of  any  other  calling;  and  that  anything 
tending  to  disturb  such  a  choice  is  liable  to  be  the 
source  of  grave  mistake.  The  most  trustworthy 
''call"  that  one  need  look  for  is  the  feeling  of  rea- 
sonable certainty  that  one  can  do  more  good  in  the 
ministry  than  in  any  other  work  in  the  world.  One 
may  refuse  such  a  call  only  for  the  gravest  reasons; 
and  if  to  it  be  added  the  persuasion  that  in  this  voca- 

14 


tion  one  can  also  best  realize  his  native  capacities 
and  best  develop  and  employ  his  talents,  the  call 
should  be  irresistible. 

While  all  that  has  been  said  thus  far  is  broadly  The  especial 
true  of  the  ministry  of  any  religious  body,  there  are  o"\h"Tiblrai 
also  certain  especial  attractions  and  opportunities  in  '"^"^^*''^- 
the  ministry  of  that  liberal  form  of  Christianity  rep- 
resented  by   the   Unitarian    churches.      There   is    an 
opinion  widely  prevalent,  and  not  altogether  without 
foundation,  that  a  minister  cannot  be   intellectually 
a  perfectly  free  and  sincere  man.    More  than  a  gen- 
eration  ago   Dean   Stanley   called   attention   to   ''the 
increasing    reluctance    of   young    men    to    entangle 
themselves    in    obligations    with    which    they    cannot 
heartily   sympathize,   and  which   may  hereafter  be 
brought  against  them  to  the  ruin  of  their  peace  and 
professional  usefulness."    And  President  Harper  of 
Chicago,  in  the  year  before  his  death,  had  occasion 
to   comment   upon   the   large   number   of   men   who 
would  naturally   be   attracted  to  the   work   of  the 
ministry,  but  were  "refusing  to  enter  upon  a  pro- 
fession in  which  the   great  majority  of  those  who 
have  undertaken  it  are  forbidden  to  think  except 
within  the  narowest  limits."    How  widely  or  deeply 
this  opinion  may  be  true  it  is  not  necessary  here  to 
discuss.     Enough  to  say  that  it  is  not  justified  by 
conditions  in   Unitarian  churches;   for  these   do  not  JJia'J^afiow 
recognize  tlie  right  of  any  man  or  body  of  men  to  pe^-VecT'"'^*^" 
prescribe  a  creed  for  their  ministers  at  ordination  or  o"/thoughf.*^^ 
afterwards,  nor  to  limit  their  belief  or  change  of 

15 


belief  in  any  way  whatsoever.  Here  is  a  body  of 
churches  that  not  only  allow  but  expect  their  minis- 
ters to  keep  abreast  of  newly  discovered  truth, 
whether  in  the  Biblical  criticism  of  either  Testament, 
in  science,  in  philosophy,  or  in  sociology;  and  that 
expect  their  ministers  to  preach  from  their  pulpits 
the  same  convictions  that  they  entertain  in  their 
studies.  Here  are  pulpits  whose  tradition  is  for  the 
same  broad  freedom  in  the  teaching  of  religion  as  is 
granted  at  the  best  universities  in  the  teaching  of 
science,  and  in  which  inquisitions  or  trials  for  heresy 
not  only  are  unknown,  but  would  be  impossible. 
Tfie  free  Thcsc  couditious   of   freedom  greatly  enhance  the 

minister  •         Ji  i  •     •  «  o  ^ 

in  the  modern      scrvicc  that  the  minister  of  to-day  can  render  to  men 

interpretation  -n  i  i 

of  religion.  i^  or   whcu   the   traditional   foundations   of   religious 

faith  have  been  so  tested  as  they  have  been  during  the 
past  fifty  years,  when  the  critical  study  of  the  Bible 
and  the  progress  of  the  sciences  have  discredited  so 
many  of  the  older  forms  of  belief,  there  is  no  need 
more  pressing  than  that  of  free,  fearless,  and  reverent 
men  to  help  this  generation  to  reconstruct  its  religious 
thought  in  terms  suited  to  the  present  day,  and  to 
present  to  it  a  pure,  reasonable,  and  practical'  form  of 
Christianity,  fit  to  be  the  inspiration  and  guide  of 
twentieth-century  America;  and  there  is  scarcely  any 
spiritual  service  greater  than  this  that  man  can  render 
to  man.  Any  one  that  has  endured  the  agony  of  relig- 
ious doubts,  or  has  witnessed  the  painful  struggles  of 
others,  must  recognize  how  great  a  helper  he  can  be 
who  will  make  God  and  the  soul  still  vital  realities  to 

16 


questioning  men,  and  who,  in  the  full  light  of  modern 
thought,  can  secure  to  them  the  comfort,  the  strength, 
and  the  inspirations  that  spring  from  enlightened 
religious  faith.  For  the  reasons  suggested  above,  I 
believe  that  the  ministers  of  the  free  churches  are 
better  able  than  any  others  to  render  this  high  ser- 
vice. Theirs  is  a  ministry  dignified  by  a  high  propor- 
tion of  illustrious  names,  which  in  themselves  bear 
witness  to  the  work  to  be  performed  and  the  honorable 
place  to  be  won  by  those  that  will  devote  themselves 
to  it:  Channing,  Parker,  Martineau,  Bellows,  Starr 
King,  Stebbins,  Eliot,  Freeman  Clarke,  Collyer,  Chad- 
wick,  Hale,  and  Savage,  not  to  mention  those  still  in 
active  service.  The  demand  for  men  well  qualified 
for  the  ministry  of  these  churches  was  never  greater 
than  now,  and  assures  abundant  opportunity  for  every 
competent  and  promising  man.  This  ministry  has 
high  and  exacting  ideals,  it  makes  strenuous  demands, 
and  it  offers  no  glittering  rewards;  but  it  affords 
infinite  opportunities  for  molding  individual  char- 
acters and  for  lifting  human  civilization.  Can  young 
men  of  large  talents  to-day  employ  them  to  better 
purpose  than  to  consecrate  them  to  such  service  in 
such  an  apostolic  succession? 


17 


GAYLORO  BHUS. 

MAKERS 


